318 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Mammals of the Isle of Wight : a Correction. — In Mr. Morey's 

 4 Guide to the Natural History of the Isle of Wight,' recently 

 reviewed in ' The Zoologist,' I am responsible for the mammals, &e.j 

 in the list. Since the book was published Mr. R. Lydekker has 

 written to me to say that he made a mistake in identifying a 

 cetacean as the White-sided Dolphin (p. 539), which he now finds is 

 a Porpoise. — Percy Wadham (Newport, Isle of Wight). 



AVE S. 



The Unfortunate Swifts. — In a previous short note (ante, p. 196), 

 I called attention to the early appearance of those summer-loving 

 birds in this part of Hampshire, but I fear the cold of June and July 

 was very adverse to their well-being and general increase. Only once 

 — about the beginning of June — did I hear their excited screams, or 

 see their sweeping flight near the eaves of the old thatched cottages 

 where they usually nest, or hear their peculiar evening song as they 

 joyously gambol high in air, as if bidding the sun a last good-night. 

 On the contrary, more than one evening they were observed hang- 

 ing in clusters from several buildings, as is sometimes their wont, 

 in cold weather, and I do not recollect any previous occasion when I 

 have seen or heard of so many Swifts being found dead, and most, if 

 not all, in a starved condition ; one morning a friend of mine picked 

 up fourteen birds beneath the church-tower. By the end of July all 

 seem to have disappeared, except a few stragglers from more northern 

 localities on their way south. Was a similar mortality observed in 

 other localities, as the distribution of heat and cold seems to have 

 been very uncertain even within the compass of our own compara- 

 tively small island? — G. B. Corbin (Ringwood, Hants). 



The Common Buzzard in East Sussex. — A Common Buzzard 

 (Buteo vulgaris) was shot in the Battle neighbourhood, in Sussex, on 

 June 8th ; the bird was not, however, recovered till the 26th, when it 

 was in too bad a condition for the purpose of preservation. The wing 

 however, was sent to me for identification. I cannot help feeling 



